Membership Magic Beyond

[emchen]

I have always considered buy in a sunk cost.

Bold emphasis by me.

but by definition they are not a sunk cost.

I think we are in danger of talking past one another. We are talking about the money we paid to purchase the contracts (the buy in), which by definition is a sunk cost (ie. it cannot be recouped from the seller, DVD). You are talking about being able to rent out the points for double what DVC is offering, which by definition is a potentially recurring revenue stream. A commercial endeavor in other words. Commercial uses of our points are technically not allowed by contract.

 

[Sandisw]

For hybrid members and the season passes, would we be able to use our resale points for them as long as the member qualifies for direct benefits? I couldn't find it anywhere in the details.

For cruises, etc they let you book using resale if your points were bought before restrictions were announced right? So they were grandfathered.

Would it be something similar here? If you have resale points from before they started Membership Magic Beyond, then maybe we will be able to use them for the pass swap but not anyone who bought after?

They have not yet clarified what. I too am waiting to find out which of my points I will be able to trade.

My guess, and only a guess, it will be limited to direct points or resale points bought before 2012, which matches the trading into the Disney collection.

But, it will be great for me if they allow any points because then I will use my SSR points since those were bought resale buy after 2012, instead of some of my VGF !

 

[ctonkgo]

The obvious endgame for Disney is to move all decent benefits of direct DVC to a paid tier. My theory is that all discounted tickets, including Sorcerers Pass, will eventually become part of a paid program available to DVC direct purchasers.

Resale is still a superior option for most people. To sell more DVC, Disney needs to make DVC direct member benefits more worthwhile. However, straight up improving direct benefits doesn't allow Disney to extract additional money from existing direct contract holders.

My DW and I are new to DVC (but not Disney Parks), and in our purchasing direct/resale spreadsheets it simply didn't make financial sense for us to buy direct. We were looking at 150 points at Riviera direct, but that doesn't even get you enough days per year to make use of the Sorcerers pass at anytime of the year we can travel. If we had the option of buying discounted weekday discounted tickets, we may have opted to still go direct.

 

[SL6827]

The obvious endgame for Disney is to move all decent benefits of direct DVC to a paid tier. My theory is that all discounted tickets, including Sorcerers Pass, will eventually become part of a paid program available to DVC direct purchasers.

Resale is still a superior option for most people. To sell more DVC, Disney needs to make DVC direct member benefits more worthwhile. However, straight up improving direct benefits doesn't allow Disney to extract additional money from existing direct contract holders.

My DW and I are new to DVC (but not Disney Parks), and in our purchasing direct/resale spreadsheets it simply didn't make financial sense for us to buy direct. We were looking at 150 points at Riviera direct, but that doesn't even get you enough days per year to make use of the Sorcerers pass at anytime of the year we can travel. If we had the option of buying discounted weekday discounted tickets, we may have opted to still go direct.

Yes. They want more and more money from direct purchasers or those grandfathered in. Could this make an uptick in resale possible?

 

[ctonkgo]

Yes. They want more and more money from direct purchasers or those grandfathered in. Could this make an uptick in resale possible?

My guess is as good as yours. If direct subscriber benefits become worthwhile I could see some people selling off their resale points to get cash for direct purchases.

In the long run though, I think Disney's moves to kill the resale market will only hurt the DVC product. Most educated people understand how bad of an idea it is to buy a timeshare, yet many will still buy into DVC because they A) visit the parks frequently and B) the resale value exists. If they totally wreck the resale value for DVC ala Riviera I would expect a large drop in direct purchases or interest in DVC all together.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Bold emphasis by me.

I think we are in danger of talking past one another. We are talking about the money we paid to purchase the contracts (the buy in), which by definition is a sunk cost (ie. it cannot be recouped from the seller, DVD). You are talking about being able to rent out the points for double what DVC is offering, which by definition is a potentially recurring revenue stream. A commercial endeavor in other words. Commercial uses of our points are technically not allowed by contract.

Well the price a Member rents for should cover both the current cost of dues, plus a portion of the buy in.
So, nothing is truly a sunk cost.